15/09/2024
"I am a creature of habit, and to me, the birthplace of aviation, is a place worth visiting more than once. In fact, I would say it is more than a photo op, a gift shop visit or buzzing the Wright Brothers Monument in your plane. It is a spiritual place to me, as powerful as Diamond Head or Machu Picchu in that regard. It is a sandy piece of land, where one can stand at the exact spot where man left the planet for the first time, and reflect in these troubled times, on what it means to soar above the earth and go traveling amongst the stars. Those kinds of thoughts are the things that separate pilots from passengers."
In fall 2008, James William Buffett jumped into his Cessna Caravan for his annual pilgrimage from New York to Florida - a familiar "change in latitude". He touched down at First Flight Airport in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, to pay homage to those two pioneering brothers who gave us the gift of flight.
Jimmy found the Outer Banks to be a special kind of place. He first visited back in the 80s, though his grandfather Capt. James Buffett had firsthand experience with Cape Hatteras via the S.S. Chiquimula (a four-masted schooner rescued east of Hatteras in 1925).
On his blog, Mr. Buffett wrote of flying the shoreline down to Cape Hatteras and back, of deflating the tires on his big "Green Tomato" van to drive on the beach, and of dreaming about big waves. He wrote of ferries, of ponies, of the things which residents of the Outer Banks sometimes take for granted until seeing them again through a visitor's eyes. Buffett wrote about staying on Ocracoke and reading himself to sleep while "the light from the lighthouse swept by my window in a constant pattern like some guardian angel standing watch."
Inspired? We sure are. We invite you to visit Wright Brothers National Memorial, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and Cape Hatteras National Seashore to make some memories. Visit the parks, view the wildlife, and (of course) check out the beaches. A wise man once said, "โIf thereโs a heaven for me, Iโm sure it has a beach attached.โ
Fair winds and following seas, Jimmy.
๐ท: Jimmy Buffett, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
